COBB AND CO.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 36, 27 September 1911, Page 2

COBB AND CO.

DEATH OF THE FOUNDEK

Under date September ICth tlie Sydney correspondent oi' the Wellington “Post” writes as follows:

Colil) and Co.’s coach lias pulled up sharply, after a long journey. James Rutherford is dead, at the patriarchal age ol So. A wire from Maclcay, Queensland, has told of the passing of Bathurst’s veteran citizen, one of Australia’s most worthy pioneers. The end came suddenly and unexpectedly, for he carried lighly, uprightly, and athleticly his weigh of years. Tall, sinewy, slimly set, active, with keen, kindly eyes, he looked “good” for many years more. Australia is indebted to America—New York State—for the birth of James Rutherford. Sixty years in Australia, did not erase his best Tinted States’ charactcristics—spontaneity of manner, quickness in decision, precision in aim, largeness in idea, and heartiness in execution. There remained too, in his manly voice, the vibrant twang of the children of the Western Republic. Like many another adventurous American, -Mr Rutherford, at the age of 25, was lured to Australia by the gold, discoveries. He prospected and dug for the precious metal, but, fortune failing him, he devoted his energies and talent to what proved profitable. Ho dealt successfully in horses, for in those days a horse was as dear to a digger as to the adventurer over the prairies of America. Acquiring capital, lie went in for contracting, and soon he was the recognised head of Cobb and Co.’s famous lines of coaches in partnership with Messrs A. W. Robertson, W. F. Whitney, Walter R. Hall, and Walter Bradley. Cobb and Co. carried half the then population of Australia, as wel las Her Majesty’s mails. Cobb and Co. was synonymfur transit as railways are to-day, and, as old identities know, Cobb and Co. brooked only the competition of the iron horse. Gobi) and Co was not in the coaching business for the good of its health, but for a monopoly that yielded good profits. But with the flight of years and the inroad of t.'m iron horse Cobb and Co. was driven onward, and the cream thinned on the profits of coaching, and the business of contractor ceased to be tin filing and romantic to Mr Rutherford. His connection with the firm, however, continued. ESTABLISHED LITHGOW IRONWORKS. It was in 1875 that Mr Rutherford, in conjunction with Mr Daniel Williams, put confidence arid capital into the iron ore of the colony, and established the Lithgow alley Ironworks, now, under the ownership and control of Hoskins,'-iLtd., the central of an industrial disturbance. Exactly how much capital the pioneer of the Lithgow iron arid steel industry sank in his plucky and patriotic enterprise was never made public. It was considerable, but it never caused him a moment’s anxiety—no .business undertaking ever did—-for he was a born investor, with a steady h:|.ud> whether he lost or won. Ho nearly always won—his imagination was so peculiarly mathematical. He reckoned on losses, but accurately calculated on overcovering returns. Mr Rutherford plunged with intrepidity into the pastoral business, and was soon one of the most prominent sheep and cattle men in New South Wales and Queensland. His properties in this State included Hereford, near Bathurst; Wyagdon, near Peel; Buckinguy, near Nyngan ;, and Murrain bid gee, near Du I) bo (which he cut up and sold). The Queensland stations included Burrenvilla, near Curinamulla; Warkon, on the Condamine; Ambathala, near Charleville; Davenport Down, on the Diamantina; the Ingledoon, in the same district. Some of those properties he recently parted with, but. his landed possessions at his death were vast and valuable, and richly stocked. Ever with up-to-date ideas and in command of groat capital, he perfectly equipped his holdings, and he was among the first to demonstrate the great value of artesian bores.

“THE ROADS OVER THERE.” 1 Hi addition to his other services to Australia, .Mr Rutherford contributed cloven units to the birth-rate, all of whom, save one, survive him. The veteran managed his great undertakings to the last. For fifty years he made Bathurst his home, and from the C'ity of the Plains, unknown to most townsmen, who saw him almost daily, lie directed all his near and remote enterprises. He was one of Bathurst’s first Mayors, the treasurer of its Agricultural Society for thirty years, president of its hospital for a quarter if a century, and president of its school of Arts for over thirty years. r!is public spirit was ever manifested, while in matters of charity and benevolence he niade his name revered, as will'be his memory. Although .Air Rutherford never would accept Barjianentary honours, he was the keenest >f politicians, and a convinced and cn- ! husiastic protectionist. Concerning toe “early days,” it is said of him that ho was faced with the problem of carrying a mail over an inaccesible range to a farback settlement. He looked at the forbidding chain of mountains before him, picked out what looked to be the most difficult if all the passes, whipped up his horses, and with the remark, “'(’lie "oad s over there,” blazed the track ler vehicle and railroad traffic for ever alter. 'ln quote the spontaneous tribute of a local verse-writer:— He went out west when the west was wide, With never a qualm of fear. He blazed a track on the mountain side, And graved his name on the Great Divide, i And ho carved Ids way with tire dauntless pride Of the early pioneer! He journeyed forth in the dazzling I bright , I

Of the burning, blazing sun, He rode him forth with a fierce delight On open plain and on wooded height; May his rest he sweet where lie camps to-night, For the Imshman’s task is done!